Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 23, 1991 TAG: 9103230159
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Short
The purchase, at Sotheby's, represented the highest price paid at auction for sporting memorabilia, about four times the previous record, set in 1989 for another Honus Wagner card.
Issued by tobacco producers in 1909 and 1910, the Wagner cards are scarce because Wagner opposed smoking and objected to his name being linked to the cigarettes advertised on the backs of the cards.
Only 40 cards depicting Wagner are known to exist; the one sold Friday was described by Sotheby's as being in "mint condition."
About 800 collectors, dealers and observers attended the sale, cheering and applauding when the bidding on the Wagner card reached $300,000 and when Robert Woolley, the auctioneer, brought down his gavel on the final bid.
Baseball cards dominated the first session in an auction of 873 baseball items owned by James C. Copeland, a California sporting goods retailer. The second most expensive card sold Friday was a 1952 Topps bubble gum card depicting Mickey Mantle, which brought $49,500 in a sale to an anonymous buyer. The house expected it would bring $12,000 to $15,000.
by CNB